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Saturday, February 16, 2008

A Long Time Goal

It's a cozy Saturday night and I've just finished a delectable meal of savoury salmon coated with a smoothy creamy sauce accompanied by whole wheat pasta draped in tangy tomato sauce and soggy salad. The soggy salad was yesterday's remnants and I ate it to get my veggies since eating veggies always makes me feel more healthy. I am also enjoying the last sips of a glass of crisp, fruity, sauvignon blanc wine. The Vancouver/Edmonton hockey game is progressing in the background, although there seems to be more fighting than playing. It is very intriguing how in hockey two grown man can beat the snot out of each other over school boy antics (he pushed me...) and we all cheer them on!

As a result of the relaxed, homey atmosphere as described above I am inspired to blog. Two weeks ago I embarked on a long time ambition of mine: to complete the twelve week Body for Life program.

*break* - the new McDonald's commercial with the mini-goalie, JC Petit, came on and I absolutely had to watch it. It is freaking hilarious! Anyway...

Body for Life is an exercise and eating program that makes more sense for me than any diet I've ever heard of. It doesn't require one to shell out weekly increments of hard earned money or buy special food or go to weigh-ins or count calories or anything that I personally find a nuisance. I realize that different things work for different people so this is not meant to be critical of those methods, they're just not for me. Body for Life prescribes 5-6 meals per day (one every 2-3hours) consisting of a portion of protein, a portion of carbs and at least one serving of veggies - when appropriate. (Carrots for breakfast have never been my thing) My favourite part about this is: you eat really well six days a week and then.....pig out and eat whatever you want on day seven! The thought behind this is that your body gets used to being fuelled by nutritious, well balanced meals throughout the week so that when it gets polluted with melt in your mouth sugary delights, or crunchy, salty oil-soaked fries and the like, it freaks out and wants to rid itself of the vile foreign substances as quickly as possible. Don't worry, it's not like you suddenly spend an hour in the bathroom or anything it's just that the body doesn't absorb as much, it just pushes the junk on through. Being able to have this "cheat" day ensures that I don't feel deprived of my favourite foods. There is some with-drawl at first of course but after about a month I actually tend to crave the tasteless veggies and dry meat and plain noodles or pototoes more than gooey chocolate chip cookies. Well, maybe not quite but I honestly do feel so much better with healthful eating. Even though my tongue salivates over the thought of rich, cold, ice cream my stomach prefers the above mentioned cardboard options. Despite popular belief - and my unappealing description - there are many ingenious ways one can create appeal in healthy food, for example the supper I just ate.

I know that I'm not fat, I have never though of myself as such. (Well, maybe there are days each month or so when a little gremlin gets inside my head and tells me otherwise but I've learned that this gremlin goes away.) Through the morphing process of pregnancy I gained 40+ pounds and got to the point where I practically couldn't move. Then I lost it but was left with a lovely area I've termed "my squish" in the mid-section. As a result I've developed a new appreciation for my body. My body went through all that and although it is marked by a few scars it has forgiven me and functions pretty much as it did before. Completing this 12 week plan has been a goal of mine for 9 years, I've been close to done twice, and half way about 5 times and started it 10 more. I think of it as a reward to my body for going through what it did with Sierra. The web sites, which I'll post later, show amazing results and I've always longed for that sort of transformation. With the feeling of awe of what my body can go through I've decided "why not this?"

I've been debating over whether to blog this or not. I'm afraid people will groan and say "not another one on a crazy diet!", or sit back with scepticism and doom me to fail, or roll their eyes and "think whatever for"? But this is not about others opinion, it's about me. Here I go, chronicling my escapade for all to read!